You have samples that are eligible for re-sequencing

*By clicking above, you are requesting a re-sequencing of your eligible samples, confirming your eligibility for our patient assistance program, and agreeing to our Terms and Privacy Policy. A claim will be submitted to your health insurance upon re-sequencing.

uBiome clinical tests are fully or partially covered by most health insurance companies under "out-of-network" healthcare benefits, with a valid healthcare provider's order. We have patient assistance programs in place to assist eligible patients with the remaining patient responsibility.

What will the process look like?

1. Upon receipt of your request, we'll ensure that you have the most up to date version of our clinical tests, to date. If you don't, we'll first re-sequence your eligible samples to this version.

2. Around the end of Fall, you'll receive a notification when your newest report (including yeast!) is available.

Which uBiome product is right for you?

SmartGut

SmartJane

Explorer

Patients with chronic gut conditions such as IBD or IBS, or symptoms such as gas, bloating or diarrhea.

Patients with the desire to, alongside their healthcare provider, learn more about their own vaginal health and how to improve conditions, such as discharges or infections, through lifestyle or diet.

Health and wellness tool to help you better discover how diet and lifestyle affect your microbiome.

Doctor authorization required?

Yes

Yes

No

Where is it available?

US and Canada (other countries coming soon)

US and Canada (other countries coming soon)

203 countries and regions where online payments can be made with a credit card or PayPal

What is the price?

uBiome clinical tests are fully or partially covered by most health insurance companies under “out-of-network” healthcare benefits. We have patient assistance programs in place to assist eligible patients with the remaining patient responsibility.

uBiome clinical tests are fully or partially covered by most health insurance companies under “out-of-network” healthcare benefits. We have patient assistance programs in place to assist eligible patients with the remaining patient responsibility.

Ever Wondered What Might Happen If You Were Bacterial Cell-Sized?

While some microbes are tiny, others can be monumental.

It’s impossible to know for certain, but we’ve seen back-of-the-envelope estimates that suggest there may only be around 1,000 people in the US whose height is over 7 feet.

Although humans come in a variety of shapes and sizes, heights tend to fall into a relatively narrow band, which probably explains why we tend to notice people when they’re a lot taller than average.

But how would things look if you were an average bacterium?

Would other species appear to be around your own size?

Or might they seem a lot bigger, or smaller, than you?

Well, if you were a person of average height, who’d been scaled down to the size of an E. coli cell, the world’s largest bacterium would be a whopping 100 times larger than you.

It would be about the height of the Washington Monument, in fact, and that’s a pretty sizeable differential.

You probably wouldn’t want to pick a fight with it.

Before we investigate this mega-microbe in more detail, let’s look briefly at the unit of measurement that’s used when we need to size-up tiny organisms.

We’re talking about the micrometer, to use the American spelling, or the micrometre in other parts of the world.

Using the US form is slightly confusing, as a micrometer is also the name of the screw gauge device often used in mechanical engineering for precise measurement of small – but not microscopic – items.

The micrometer used for bacterial measurement, however, is sometimes also known as micron, and represents one millionth of a metre, or one thousandth of a millimetre.

It’s generally written using the Greek letter µ, or “mu”, the word micro coming from the Greek mikrós, which means small.

By the way, if you want to produce a µ on a computer, it’s Option-M on a Mac, or if you’re on Windows hold down the Alt key, and type 0181 on the numeric keypad.

You’re welcome.

Now we’ve pinned down our measuring unit, let’s consider the biggest and smallest in the world of microorganisms.

That E. coli cell that we’ve already referenced has a rod-shaped appearance that’s around seven micrometers in length.

One of the smallest bacterial species is actually not much tinier than this.

Haemophilus influenzae was originally, and wrongly, thought to cause influenza.

False accusations aside, it has legitimately earned itself a slot on the small end of the size scale, being between 0.5 and two micrometers long.

Interestingly, despite its tiny size, it’s around the smallest object that is visible through a light microscope. Any smaller, and you’d need an electron microscope.

What about the other end of the scale, though?

If there was a Guinness World Record for largest bacterial cell, which species would carry it off?

Well, for six years beginning in 1993, it looked as though the award would be held by a microorganism called Epulopiscium fishelsoni, which researchers discovered in the gut of the brown surgeonfish.

Epulopiscium means “guest at a banquet of fish.”

E. fishelsoni’s cells are an extraordinary 600 micrometers long – over half a millimeter, which is about the length of a hyphen in some printed texts, and definitely visible to the naked eye.

Prior to 1993, it had been hypothesized that bacteria couldn’t be this large, because as cell size increases, the ratio between size and surface area decreases.

And surface area is critical to microorganisms, since a cell absorbs vital nutrients through its surface, so in theory large organisms wouldn’t be able to get enough nutrients to enable their survival.

Luckily, E. fishelsoni has a trick up its sleeve.

Its unfeasibly wrinkled sleeve, to be precise.

Just like the surface of a brain, the outer membrane of the cell contains many folds, increasing its effective surface area.

E. fishelsoni is unusual in another in another way.

Bacteria generally reproduce through a process known as binary fission, when one cell divides into two.

E. fishelsoni, however, goes about reproduction in a totally different way.

Don’t worry, it’s SFW.

Between one and twelve daughter cells grow inside one parent cell, before the parent lyses and dies.

Despite its unique characteristics, E. fishelsoni’s reign at the top of the size spectrum didn’t last all that long after its 1993 discovery.

In 1999, a group of German, Spanish, and American scientists found a bacterium that was even larger, responsible for our earlier Human vs. Washington Monument matchup.

Thiomargarita namibiensis was discovered in sediment off the coast of Namibia.

Its name means “sulfur pearl of Namibia,” since T. namibiensis has a form similar to a string of pearls.

But what a string it is, measuring a highly visible 750 micrometers – three quarters of a millimetre.

Returning to our person the size of an E. coli cell, this string of pearls would stretch 530 feet long, the length of the 17th hole at Pebble Beach, where a well-known golfer famously hit the pin in the 1972 US Open.